Heckel Casey Read Online Free PDF

out of the city. It looked like a war zone," Leonard said as a tear formed in the corner of his eye.
    "Yeah, I was just out of grad school. I had been teaching at a high school. I watched the game by myself and when that third quarter started, I was frozen in disbelief. When I heard numerous gunshots being fired, I ran out of my apartment complex, got in my car, and drove out of the city as well. I didn't go back for several days. I agree, it definitely looked and sounded like a war zone."
    For what seemed like an eternity, we both sat in silence staring out at the dark, cloud-covered sky. Large drops of rain started to hit the cracked windshield. Sudden bolts of lightning followed by an earsplitting peel of thunder seem to bring us each back to reality.
    "Looks like a pretty good thunderstorm brewing," I muttered under my breath.
    "I think I'm going to pull under the next overpass and wait it out. I don't trust these tires to do very well in a downpour and it appears we have no functioning wiper blades," Leonard said as he fiddled with the knob on the dash.
    "Good idea."
    A mile passed before the next overpass appeared. Leonard eased the VW to the side and got us out of the rain.
    "I suppose you should shut it off to conserve gas," I told him.
    Leonard nodded his head and replied, "Sure hope we can get it started again."
    "Hopefully, the battery should be charged up, assuming it can hold a charge."
    "We can always get your super legs to push us again."
    I rolled my eyes and petted Jerky, who had decided to take her nap on my lap as we waited out the storm. Leonard leaned back and closed his eyes. I, too, shifted my weight to get more in a sleeping position. Jerky lifted one lid in irritation. "Sorry," I whispered.
    As I drifted off, more thoughts of that horrible first event invaded my dream. It was a very vivid dream. I was standing in front of my couch watching the TV in horror. The football field, as well as the stands, was streaming in bright crimson. People slipped on the blood, only to find themselves propelled into another attacker. As I watched in horror, I noticed blood leaking from my widescreen HD TV. A severed arm fell out of the corner.
    I tried to run only to look down and discover that two other dismembered hands had clasped themselves like shackles around my ankles. More body parts fell from the now blood-encrusted TV. Tormented screams and painful moaning came out in surround sound with a bone-crushing decibel. More hands crawled toward my legs and attached like leeches. One bloody female hand with a large diamond ring made its way up my crotch and inched seductively up my torso.
    I attempted to reach up to pull it off only to have my arms yanked backward by several dismembered arms. My balance was finally disrupted and I fell back toward the couch. The female hand continued to crawl up my chest. My head was yanked back, exposing my neck. For some strange reason, I felt it was Madeline's hand. I suddenly remembered seeing that oversized, garish, bilious diamond ring on Madeline's hand that memorable day in ISS. I wanted to puke. One of her fingers played with my lips in a provocative manner. I tried to bite at it and spit it out. Slowly it inched its way up to the top of my head, playing with my hair and ear. As her finger slowly bored its way into my ear, blood flowed down my neck.
    Jerky bit my nose and woke me up.
    "What the hell?" I yelled, looking cross-eyed at Jerky who was standing on my chest an inch away from my face.
    "You must have been having a bad dream and Jerky sensed it. Amazing," Leonard commented softly as he stretched.
    "Ya got that right. It was one of those nightmares where you can't move and there was…wait. Did you hear that?"
    Leonard wiped the condensation from the side window and looked out at the deserted interstate. It was still very dark from the storm. Sheets of paper and dead leaves raced past us. He fiddled with the knob on the wiper blades, hoping that somehow they had